New to Sales or Marketing? Here’s How to Nurture Warm Leads
What is a warm lead?
Identifying warm leads is critical for any seller to build their pipeline. A warm lead is a prospect who has shown some interest in your product or service. Perhaps the prospect visited your website or followed your company on a social media account. This type of lead is significantly more valuable than a cold lead (someone who has never expressed interest), so keeping them engaged is key.
Nurture
Once you have obtained a warm lead, your goal is to turn it into a hot lead. Below are some helpful strategies for doing so.
Use automated email drip campaigns (also known as lead nurturing campaigns).
Timing is vital. You don’t want to spam your followers, but you want to keep them routinely updated. A weekly check-in is ideal.
Provide email-only benefits such as discounts, and put calls to action in your messages via engaging buttons, such as “Sign me up for the webinar!” or “Yes, I want a discount!”
Get personal. People are more likely to respond when you’re open and honest. For example, include your prospect’s name in the email, or share an anecdote about yourself that relates to what you’re selling.
Direct your prospect to your content, which leads to the next point.
Make sure your content creation is engaging and consistent. Having updated content indicates that your company is active and looking to serve its customers.
Not all your content needs to sell your product or service. While some of that is beneficial and works well (e.g., a blog post or customer testimonial about your product), there are other ways to engage with prospective customers. Provide free, informative material that will keep people returning to your website for more.
Social media is a highly effective tool to interact with warm leads.
Facebook retargeting: social ads allow you to reach out to prospects who have already visited your website. Check out Databox’s article here to learn about the benefits of a retargeting campaign, including increased conversions and brand awareness.
Just as you might in an email, you can create call-to-action opportunities in your social content, such as a downloadable white paper or a “sign up now for a discount” button.
Track your social metrics: likes, comments, brand mentions, shares, and brand hashtag usage. If there’s low engagement, it’s time to evaluate your product, your messaging, or perhaps both.
Remember: it may surprise you how close a warm lead is to becoming a hot one! Don’t underestimate how valuable these leads are to your sales pipeline.